April 2012

23/04/12

Tidal forest

This is probably what the forests in the freshwater part of the Dutch delta looked like before deforestation and land reclamation. No pristine remnants survive. The area in which sufficient tidal action is still present today, is tiny due to the delta works (reducing or stopping tidal action). The forests are flooded at high tide, twice a day with a difference in water levels of up to 1 meter. The most interesting forests are found close to and even in Rotterdam. Due to there being enough natural dynamics, species such as summer snowflake, roe deer, Black-crowned Night Heron, spoonbills and European beavers are back. In spring the forest floor is covered by a subspecies of marsh marigold only found in certain tidal freshwater habitats. During high tide many flowering plants are submerged to only re-emerge at low tide.